Antler weaving comb

Iron Age, 300-100 BC
Danebury, Hampshire, England

Broken when making Iron Age clothes

This is a weaving comb, a very common object found on
excavations of Iron Age settlements in Britain. It is made of
antler and was used when weaving woollen cloth on a loom. The comb
has a hole made through the end of the handle so it could have a
leather thong or piece of rope passed through to tie the comb to a
person's belt. The comb has clearly been used and many of the teeth
at the end of the comb have been broken.

The comb was found in 1852 at the Iron Age hillfort of Danebury,
Hampshire. The hillfort, occupied from about 500 to 100 BC, was
excavated over a period of twenty years by Professor Barry Cunliffe
of the University of Oxford. Results of the excavations, one of the
largest ever to have taken place on a prehistoric site in Europe,
provide a detailed picture daily life, ritual and politics of an
Iron Age community.